ESCAPE ROUTE
by randomle26
Summary: [SEQUEL TO 'ANKLEBITERS' WITH NIGHTRAE/ROBRAE]


**So I haven't been on in a while… sorry I've been busy**

**Actually I just started an RP blog for the Zenescope character Robyn Hood; if you want to check it out it's stealfortheneedy . tumblr . com**

**This is a sequel to ****_ANKLEBITERS_****… I don't know I 'm just in a Young Justice type of mood lately**

**Please ignore the fact that I don't own either Teen Titans or Young Justice AND this story's unedited**

**Song Inspiring: ****ESCAPE ROUTE**** by Paramore**

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><p><em>Just enough time to plan an escape route<em>_  
><em>_I put my map on the wall in the basement__  
><em>_Not quite a victory to run from your problems__  
><em>_But it's the only plan that I got__  
><em>_It's the only plan that I got_

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><p>Raven huffed and pumped her legs harder as her blue bike straddled the inclines of Mount Justice. Yes, the Azarathian could've just levitated herself but she was out of uniform – and how often did civilians see a girl in cut offs and a dark gray V-neck floating around a mountain.<p>

Because the mountain didn't exactly have designated parking areas, Raven leaned her bike near a tree before flicking her fingers and setting a charm on her bike. She couldn't afford to lose another one.

She clicked a few buttons on the side of the mountain, did the usual security procedures, and headed into Mount Justice through the hangar.

Conner happened to be waiting for her. "I hope your trip to Jump City was helpful," the Kryptonian clone greeted.

Raven sent a general nod in his direction, "It could've been better," she watched him eyeing her left wrist, "Have you told anyone else?"

He shook his head, "It is not my secret to tell. But Red Arrow's been asking about you."

"I spoke with him," she said as they walked towards the living quarters, "He thinks I should tell the Team … I know I should, Kon, but I'm not ready. I'm just here because you asked me to."

Conner wasn't bothered by the way she addressed him, she being the only one to call him that (with the exception of Superman calling him "Kon-El"). He studied the girl with purple hair in front of him. "People should begin to notice you acting different," he said.

In monotone, she said, "I'll be fine."

Conner stood nonchalantly, mentally discussing ways to respond to her somewhat calm posture. He didn't even begin mentioning how a certain acrobat was on the border of becoming a recluse since she left. Not knowing how to handle, he nodded politely.

"It's nice to have you back, Raven," he said over his shoulder. (1)

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><p>"<em>Recognize Nightwing. B01."<em>

Nightwing entered the Mission Room when Aqualad, Superboy, Batgirl, Beast Boy, Impulse, Tigress, and Miss Martian were already there. It was taking a while for the team to adjust to Nightwing and Kaldur's joint leadership, and to having Kid Flash and Artemis – aka Tigress – back. (2)

"Do we have everybody?" Nightwing asked as he approached Conner.

Conner shook his head, "We're still waiting for one more."

Nightwing's masked wrinkled around his nose, "Is it Robin, he's usually on time."

"Not Robin," smirked Beast Boy, looking over Nightwing's shoulder, "But someone else in the bird family. And it wasn't till Nightwing turned around did he understand the jibe.

Raven walked in – for once the hood of her cloak not covering her pale face – and stood in the back to wait for instructions, per usual. Her uniform was different; a blue corset top hugged her torso nicely, stopping short over her hip so some skin was revealed until it met her black leggings. She kept her old belt and boots too.

Nightwing was a gentleman, so he tried to avert his eyes away from her body and focused on her face. She had a small scar on her right eyebrow and a cut over her upper lip. Her purple hair was two steps away from being black, and was nicely tightened in a braid.

"It's nice to see you, Raven!" Beast Boy went over to Raven and raised his hand for a high five, he knew how she felt about hugs.

With a light look of annoyance, Raven slapped her hands with his.

"Thought you were in Jump," Artemis said with a creased brow.

The archer didn't intimidate Raven, "I was. Conner asked me to come here."

Nightwing locked eyes – even those his were behind his mask – with Raven, but she quickly turned away, trying to avoid him at all costs.

"We don't have enough times for introductions," Kaldur said, "Nightwing and Raven will be on a solo mission infiltrating STAR Labs in Boston." He then went on to assign other people to their missions.

Raven nearly screamed at Conner for dragging her here just for a covert mission. "Why did you need me, Kon?"

"Because you were the one sneaky enough to get in and not make any noise," he said. It was a crappy excuse, but it was the best he could use as a cover up for 'Robin suggested it so Nightwing would stop moping'.

Raven shook her head, "What are we looking for?"

Kon pointed at the computer, a small black rectangle with a silver end.

"You want me to break into STAR Labs for a flash drive?" she asked judgmentally, "Is this flash drive that important that Nightwing and I risk our asses for it?"

Kaldur nodded solemnly, "The flash drive contains a list of everyone on the Team's secret identities. (3) Will you two be able to work together?" By the look he gave, it was quite obvious that they'd be forced into the situation even if their own answers said otherwise.

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><p>"Why'd you go to Jump?" Nightwing suddenly asked after a long ride of silence, he seemed to remember that Raven didn't like talking when she was levitating.<p>

She was taken off balance by his blunt question – one of the quirks he learned from her. Raven quickly caught him again, this time levitating while carrying him by his arms. She planted him on the roof before pulling her hood over her head, "I had things to take care of."

He rolled his eyes behind his mask, "Really Rave? I know you better, stop hiding from me."

She grimaced behind her hood, creating a portal, "We have a mission to complete, Dick."

He complied momentarily and jumped in. Once she herself landed he asked, "Did you not like any of the new ones?"

Raven nearly laughed at how off topic he was at the moment. "It had nothing to do with the new members," she said truthfully. Raven understood why he would think that considering Beast Boy annoyed her, she thought L'gann was obnoxious, and Batgirl was arrogant… to name a few.

"Was it Kaldur leaving?" he asked as they walked through the halls.

"It had nothing to do with Kaldur," she said. He was one of the few kinder spirits towards her when she first arrived and respected him greatly as a leader.

"Was it Artemis?" he asked, accidentally stepping over an alarm. A security guard was in the hallway across from him, running in their direction. Nightwing didn't even break a sweat as he threw his Eskirma stick at the officer like a boomerang.

They continued forward at Nightwing's persistent game of 20 (unwanted) questions. "It wasn't Artemis either," she said. Another officer coming from her left, Raven was in her stance, grabbing a test tube and flinging it at the officer's neck, causing him to fall backwards.

Two more came from both sides. One approached Nightwing with a waving fist, but he easily grabbed it and twisted the man's arm before kneeing him in the back and causing him to fall – his partner tripping over his in pain body. "It wasn't the new ones, it wasn't Kaldur, and it wasn't Artemis. Why won't you tell me what it was?"

Raven was preoccupied with three officers coming her way. She jumped and kicked one in the face. She grabbed his body before he fell to the ground, threw him at the other two and forced them on their backs. "Is this really important?" she asked-yelled as they began running down the halls.

"Yes!" Nightwing said as he ran beside her, "It is because I was worried sick about you." The two stopped in front of a door. Raven kicked it open and led him up the stairs. "You didn't keep in contact with any of us, not even Roy."

They reached the fourth floor before exiting the stairway, more guards waiting their arrival. Raven grabbed on to him before teleporting them to an office on the 6th floor.

Before Raven could walk away, she couldn't move from her spot because the former protégé to the bat grabbed her wrist. "Nightwing, you have no right-"

He wrapped his arms around her, his hands gripping the back of her cloak and his face buried in her shoulder. Raven's hands were awkwardly at her side, a slightly shocked expression dancing its way onto her face.

"Nightwing… Dick, we're on a mission."

"I know," he murmured, "I just… I needed to hug you," as fast as it happened, he released her and headed towards the other cubicles with Raven following him awkwardly.

Kaldur mentioned the person who had the USB, and it took Dick a total of 43.8 seconds to find it. Smirking at her, he said, "Mission completed," he rolled the flash drive in between his fingers.

Raven didn't have enough time for a comeback; the muffled sound of multiple officers on their way up the stairs was getting louder. She held onto him once more, "Let's get out of here."

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><p>Raven could feel Dick still had a bunch of unanswered questions, he would wait till after Kaldur thanked them to bombard her with them.<p>

"How long will you be staying, Raven?" Kaldur asked.

She ran a hand through her messy hair, "Only tonight. I need to leave by morning."

The Atlantean nodded, "Again, thank you for your assistance. Superboy made the right choice calling you," he headed towards the Zeta-Tubes and was gone within the minute.

Raven headed toward the living quarters, had a former acrobat not grabbed onto her for the second time that night. She was getting really tired of this one sided tug of war.

"Dick, I need some sleep," she said.

He turned her around to face him. His gloved hand was on the side of her cheek; she couldn't help but subconsciously lean into him.

"Where have you been, Rave?" he asked.

Pushing his hand away, Raven glared at the floor, "Don't."

He gripped her upper arms, "I won't stop wondering. Raven… you left without saying anything; you left after you told us whom your father was… Did…" he couldn't even decide how to ask.

She put a hand on the side of his face, "I had to take care of some things with my father."

"What kind of things?" he asked under his breath. She was hesitant to answer. He pulled her closer to him and soothingly rubbed his hands up and down. "Rave… you can trust me. Have I ever given you a reason not to? I defended you when you first came, I told you about my parents, I… I waited all these years in love with you despite the fact that I never knew if you were coming back. "

Raven turned to look at him and stared into his porcelain, baby blue eyes – when he took the time to take off his mask she wouldn't know – and saw only love and compassion dilating his pupils.

She took a deep breath before looking up at him, "I was in Jump City looking for the cult my mother originally joined. I had to know more about my birth… how I'm…"

She stared back at her feet as she answered through gritted teeth, "I'm not completely human. I'm… I'm also Trigon's portal to earth. His arrival will be coming soon… and I…"

He didn't need to hear her finish, embracing her he pulled her to his chest. She didn't cry, she didn't scream, she didn't punch him in the chest. She stood their motionless as he made comforting circles on her back and buried his nose into her hair.

He tilted her chin up and said, against her plump lips, "We'll get through this together."

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><p><strong>How was it? It should be pure crap because I stayed up really late to write this. So you all better love me (I'm just kidding of course… sorta… not really… kidding… sorta)<strong>

**(1) Raven's no longer on the Team and was in Jump City during 3 out of the 5 year gap.**

**(2) ENDGAME NEVER HAPPENED – WALLY NEVER CEASED**

**(3) I was watching ****_Ultimate Deadpool_**** - that's where the original idea came from**


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